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18 Dec 2003 : Column 1052W—continued

Small Businesses

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the start up rate was for small businesses in (a) each London borough, (b) London and (c) England in each year since 1997. [144172]

Nigel Griffiths [holding answer 15 December 2003]: Value added tax (VAT) registrations and de-registrations are the best official guide to the pattern of start-ups and closures. These cover businesses of all sizes.

The rates of businesses registering for VAT in each calendar year from 1997 to 2002 in each London borough, London, and England, are set out as follows.

However, changes since 1997 have given the UK the highest VAT threshold in the EU and removed up to 700,000 businesses from the requirement to register for VAT.

Number of VAT registrations per 10,000 resident adults⁽¹²⁾

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
England	43	43	41	42	39	39
London	68	71	68	67	59	57
Barking and Dagenham	25	25	30	31	29	26
Barnet	94	91	76	76	60	59
Bexley	39	35	34	35	36	31
Brent	61	61	59	59	52	47
Bromley	45	48	39	41	41	40
Camden	159	158	150	142	112	110
City of London	2,212	2,228	2,200	2,345	1,653	1,428
Croydon	41	42	39	39	37	38
Ealing	56	56	52	53	49	48
Enfield	40	42	40	42	37	39
Greenwich	35	35	33	33	30	29
Hackney	72	83	78	81	65	63
Hammersmith and Fulham	77	96	84	94	85	75
Haringey	57	59	59	58	51	46
Harrow	58	64	55	57	54	55
Havering	40	41	36	36	36	34
Hillingdon	48	49	44	46	39	43
Hounslow	50	52	50	49	51	47
Islington	118	126	109	97	84	82
Kensington and Chelsea	98	102	106	105	74	78
Kingston upon Thames	60	63	55	53	48	46
Lambeth	43	45	44	43	40	42
Lewisham	34	36	34	33	32	28
Merton	52	56	50	52	44	39
Newham	33	37	35	34	31	29
Redbridge	45	50	46	46	40	38
Richmond upon Thames	72	75	70	72	65	71
Southwark	57	59	55	59	55	48
Sutton	43	44	39	36	36	36
Tower Hamlets	73	79	78	75	65	-62
Waltham Forest	39	42	41	39	36	37
Wandsworth	57	60	61	56	53	52
Westminster	329	364	390	360	304	288

⁽¹²⁾ Mid-year resident adult (16 and over) population estimates.

Note:

For further information on the VAT statistics please see www.sbs.gov.uk/statistics/vatstats.php

Source:

Business Start-ups and Closures: VAT Registrations and De-registrations 1994–2002 from the Small Business Service; population data from The Office for National Statistics.

18 Dec 2003 : Column 1053W

The Accident Group

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will appoint independent investigators to examine fees charged by receivers at the Accident Group. [144187]

18 Dec 2003 : Column 1054W

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Accident Group is in administration. The Secretary of State has no power to intervene in the fees charged by the administrators, which have been determined in this case by the creditors' committee.

18 Dec 2003 : Column 1055W

HOME DEPARTMENT

Anti-Social Behaviour Orders

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many refusals to grant Anti-Social Behaviour Orders there have been in each magistrate area, listed in descending order of number of refusals. [144831]

Ms Blears: A total of 35 notifications have been received by the Home Office, up to 30 June 2003 (latest available), of applications for Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) which have been refused. This represents a total of 3 per cent. of the total number of applications made to magistrates acting in their civil capacity.

Information is given in the table, by Magistrates Courts Committee (MCC) area.

In descending order, the number of notifications as reported to the Home Office, of applications for Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) which have been refused, from 1 April 1999 to 30 June 2003—England and Wales

Magistrates Courts Committee(MCC) area	Total number refused
GLMCA/Metropolitan Police (3)	7
Merseyside	5
Greater Manchester	4
Kent	4
Wiltshire	4
Hampshire	3
Cleveland	1
Cumbria	1
Norfolk	1
Suffolk	1
Sussex	1
Thames Valley	1
West Midlands	1
West Yorkshire	1
England	35
Wales	0
Total England and Wales	35

Community Support Officers

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Community Support Officers there were on the latest available date; and if he will provide a breakdown of their location by (a) police force area and (b) local authority area. [144582]

Ms Blears: There were 2,861 Community Support Officers (CSOs) in 38 police forces on 1 December 2003. The table provides a breakdown by police force area. Information on deployment of CSOs by local authority area is not held centrally.The deployment of CSOs within a police force area is a matter for the chief officer of the force concerned.

18 Dec 2003 : Column 1056W

Numbers of CSOs recruited by police forces as of 1 December 2003

Force	Community Support Officers
Avon and Somerset	46
Bedfordshire	8
Cambridgeshire	59
Cheshire	30
Cleveland	80
Devon and Cornwall	55
Dorset	7
Durham	27
Dyfed-Powys	5
Essex	77
Gloucestershire	50
Greater Manchester	160
Gwent	50
Hertfordshire	30
Kent	62
Lancashire	103
Leicestershire	44
Lincolnshire	44
Merseyside	64
Metropolitan Police	1,044
Norfolk	34
Northamptonshire	12
North Wales	7
North Yorkshire	37
Northumbria	40
Nottinghamshire	43
South Wales	40
South Yorkshire	42
Staffordshire	10
Suffolk	12
Surrey	64
Sussex	72
Thames Valley	6
Warwickshire	28
West Mercia	10
West Midlands	59
West Yorkshire	96
Wiltshire	24
Total	2,681

Correspondence

Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will write to the hon. Member for Mole Valley with a substantive answer to his question, reference 138047. [142036]

Paul Goggins: I wrote to the hon. Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford) on 11 December.

Drug Action Team (Portsmouth)

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been in drug rehabilitation schemes in the area covered by the Portsmouth Drug Action Team, in each year since 2001–02. [144499]

Ms Rosie Winterton: I have been asked to reply.

The information requested is not collected centrally. The most recent statistics from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System estimated that there were 140,900 drug misuses in treatment during 2002–03, an increase of 10 per cent. on the previous year of 2001–02.

18 Dec 2003 : Column 1057W

Drug Arrests

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drug arrests have been made in the Hampshire police force area in each year since 2000–01. [144500]

Ms Blears: Available data on the number of persons arrested for drug offences within the Hampshire police force area are given in the table.

Number of persons arrested for drug offences in Hampshire police force area, 2000–01 to 2002–03

	Arrests
2000–01	3,059
2001–02	3,121
2002–03	3,089

Miss Eulisa De Freitas

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will meet the hon. Member for Totnes to discuss the application for the renewal of the United Kingdom passport of Miss Eulisa De Freitas. [142868]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 11 December 2003]: I wrote to the hon. Member on 26 November 2003 and will place a copy of my letter in the Library. I hope he will agree that a meeting would serve no useful purpose as there is nothing more I can add to that letter which sets out fully the issues in this case and the reasons why I have no power to issue a UK passport for Miss Freitas.

Special Constables

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many special constables have been in post, in each half year, since September 2001. [144498]

Ms Blears: Home Office figures on police strength moved to an annual cycle from March 2002 and are available in the House Library, as are previous publications. The number of Special Constables in post in England and Wales for each half year available since September 2001 are set out as follows:

	Number
September 2001	12,068
March 2002	11,598
March 2003	11,037

We are working with stakeholders to increase the size and effectiveness of the Special Constabulary. In particular, we are rolling out Home Office/Association of Chief Police Officers 'Good Practice Guidance'; we are also holding a 2nd National Specials Weekend on 28–29 February 2004 to help raise the profile of Specials and the invaluable work they do; and we have recently announced grants of up to £70,000 to assist forces to boost their capacity to recruit and manage Specials effectively.

18 Dec 2003 : Column 1058W

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